Online dating vs offline dating papers

Onlinedating is also relatively popular among the college-educated, as well as among urban and suburban residents.

Fully 34% of Americans who are in a committed relationship and have used onlinedating sites or dating apps in the past say that they met their spouse or partner online, compared with 3% for those who have not used onlinedating sites.We refer to these individuals throughout this report as “online daters,” and we define them in the following way: Taken together, 11% of all American adults have done one or both of these activities and are classified as “online daters.” In terms of demographics, onlinedating is most common among Americans in their mid-20’s through mid-40’s.Some 22% of 25-34 year olds and 17% of 35-44 year olds are online daters.Some 6% of internet users who are in a marriage, partnership, or other committed relationship met their partner online—that is up from 3% of internet users who said this in 2005.On an “all-adults” basis, that means that 5% of all committed relationships in America today began online.Women are much more likely than men to have experienced uncomfortable contact via onlinedating sites or apps: some 42% of female online daters have experienced this type of contact at one point or another, compared with 17% of men.

Paid dating sites, and sites for people who are seeking partners with specific characteristics are popular with relatively large numbers of online daters: Organized outings are much less common, as just 4% of online daters have attended a group outing or other physical event organized by an onlinedating site.Some 42% of Americans know someone who has used onlinedating, up from 31% in 2005.And 29% of Americans now know someone who met a spouse or other long-term partner through onlinedating, up from just 15% in 2005.Half (54%) of online daters have felt that someone else seriously misrepresented themselves in their profile.And more seriously, 28% of online daters have been contacted by someone through an onlinedating site or app in a way that made them feel harassed or uncomfortable.Even today, onlinedating is not universally seen as a positive activity—a significant minority of the public views onlinedating skeptically.